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THE ATLANTA GEORGIAN
Published Every Afternoon Except Sunday
By THE GEORGIAN COMPANY
At 20 East Alabama St., Atlanta, Ga.
Entered as second-class matter at postoffice at Atlanta, under act of March 3. IS7J.
Subscription Price—Delivered by carrier, 10 cents a week. By mall, $5.00 a year.
Payable in advance.
Vote for Wilson and Mar
shall
r r »
That is Our Best Chance to Help Forward the Era of Good Times.
The Georgian advises its readers to vote for Wilson and Mar
shall. because that is the sensible and advantageous thing to do.
We believe that the election of the national Democratic ticket will
be healthy for the country—that it will tend to weaken monopolies
and to strengthen the economic position of the average man. We
believe that it will quicken the pulse of business and open up new
avenues of employment. We believe, in short, that the road to
prosperity just now is the Democratic road.
Os course, there is a great deal of nonsense .spoken, on the eve
of every presidential election, about the effect that the success of
this or that party will have upon the business of the country. There
is no doubt that the influence of politics upon the general pros
perity is apt to be exaggerated.
For the truth is that lhe present organization of our political
system is too weak to cope, in an entirely effective way, with the
abuses of the new and gigantic organization l)f industry and finance.
By the by, and step by step, we shall find ways of improving our
political system so that it shall be strong enough to do this.
In the meantime, sensible men will understand that the gigantic
crops of wheat, corn and cotton that have been gathered this year
are quite as important as our politics. They will understand that
the devastation that is being wrought by war in Europe and else
where is quickening the demand for American products. They will
understand that an accumulation of causes and events that can not
be reached by statute law or settled at the polls is to be counted
on one side or the other in the scale of our prosperity.
But the fact that we can not accomplish everything by putting
good and prudent men in office is no reason why we should not
put that kind of men in office. There is much that can be done by
a wise administration at Washington.
The country is likely to prosper greatly with Woodrow Wilson
in the white house.
With the election of Wilson —which seems now well assured —
it is probable that the senate of the United States will be made
Democratic. There is no doubt that the house of representatives
will continue to be Democratic. Thus the whole Federal govern
ment will be democratized.
It is a good thing to have the government all of one piece—just
as it is a good thing to have harmony in a hoard of trustees or
among the executors of a will. The fact is, indeed, that where there
is a conflict of responsibility there is no real responsibility at all.
With two rival parties pulling and hauling in congress, each in
control of a single house, it is impossible for the people to tell
which is most to blame for the resulting confusion. Certainly
nothing important and helpful is likely to be done under such con
ditions.
Thus the fact that the success of the Democratic national ticket
■will give us a united government at Washington, and therefore a
really responsible government, is a pretty decisive reason why sen
sible men, whatever their past party alliances, should vote for Wil
son and Marshall. For it is absolutely certain that a united and
responsible government at Washington can not be got in any other
way.
It is. of course, flat foolishness to say that the election of Wilson
will precipitate a panic. Most of the discerning business men of
the country fully expect that Wilson will be elected, and they are
not preparing for a panic, but for an era of commercial peace ami
expansion. The greatest panic in our history occurred in 1873.
The panic we remember best took place in 1907. Both were under
Republican administrations.
The historical truth is that the happiest times that the Re
public has known have been times when the Democratic party was
in control of the Federal government.
The Georgian has only such means of knowledge as can be
gained from a wide observation and a fair understanding of events;
it has no gift of inspired prophecy. But we venture to predict that
the coming Democratic administration will do the country a great
deal ot good—that it will be memorable among the fair and fruit
ful times.
We believe the Democratic party will renew the spirit of self
government throughout the land: that it will strengthen our politi
cal system at its foundations by reviving popular power in local
communities; that it will tend to create a political climate in which
monopolies can not live.
We advise our readers to vote for Wilson and Marshall—and
to free their mind from all doubt of the wisdom of that choice.
Civilization and the Prairie
Dog
There are thousands of villages wiped off the map Tvery year
in the West and the inhabitants annihilated. Prairie dogs are the
victims of this wholesale slaughter, and in a few years it will be
difficult to find one of these little animals.
Like the buffalo, the prairie dog has had to give way before
the onrush of civilization. Cattle and horses stepped into the small
holes of the burrowers and broke their legs, and the dogs foraged on
the crops.
There was a time when these towns dotted the plains and their
inhabitants could be seen by thousands popping in and out of their
houses. Let the museums take their specimens while they may, for
prairie dogs will soon be at a premium.
The Atlanta Georgian
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 31. 1912.
A Drawing Lesson at the Zoo •
TEACHING THE YOUNG TO CULTIVATE POWERS OF OBSERVATION.
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Here is a picture that might teach a lesson to some of our school heads over here. The chil
dren are those attending the drawing classes at one of the London public schools, and have
been taken to the “zoo ’ for a lesson with living models. This form of drawing education is
said to have produced some remarkable results.
The Only Independent Man Is He Who
Thoroughly Understands His Business
I HAVE received a somewhat re
markable letter, which is bet
ter worth attention than most
letters of the kind because it af
fords a glimpse of a side of human
nature in which too many persons
go astray and lose themselves.
The writer’s description of him
self will at the same time amuse
you by its Rabelaisian style, and
instruct you concerning the source
of his trouble, of which he does
not appear to have the least sus
picion. He says:
"I am, and have been, as fol
lows :
"A huckster.
“A rag carpet and rug weaver,
“A genuine art glass cutter.
“A machinist (drill press, rivet
machine, milling machine, press
machine, etc.).
“A delivery boy.
“A messenger boy.
“An elevator boy (freight and
passenger combined).
“A fireman of a six-story build
ing.
Adopted a Dozen Other Ways.
"A medicine maker; specially
maker of all talcum powders, tooth
powders, headache powders, foot
powders, shaving powders, face
powders, also the genuine pink
powders for specially female per
sons.
“An usher of a theater; also a
ticket taker.
“A carpenter.
“A cigar box maker.
"A music roll maker for player
pianos.
"A captain, manager, and treas
urer of a baseball team; also a
fielder and batter.
“A baker’s helper.
“A candy maker's helper.
"A dish washer in restaurants.
“A maker of buttons, stamps, and
a colnist.
"A porter on a boat.
“A writer for a newspaper, but
the world is not educated enough
to understand my writer's thought.
I admit I sleep. I am the world’s
greatest educational writer, espe
cially when I am awake.”
In addition to all this he avers
By GARRETT P. SERVISS.
'• that he has discovered a “quadril- •
lion-quadrillion foretelling method
and system,” which he is desirous
of exploiting.
This man represents a type of
human kind which is lamentably
common, although it seldom shows
itself in so complete a form. He
has, according to his own account,
engaged in at least twenty differ
ent occupations, and, evidently, he
has succeeded in none of them. He
has only succeeded in convincing
himself that this is an unappre
ciative world.
Either through his own fault, or
What Ails Autumn?
By CHESTER FIRKINS.
I've carefully avoided draughts
From open panes and panels;
My overcoat’s as big as Taft’s;
I’ve not forgot my flannels;
I wall myself ’gainst all the chills
That Man should be afraid of—
And yet I suffer all the ills
That Autumn’s always made of.
When first the Summer evening air
Began to have a tingle,
I bade my servitors prepare
The gas log in the ingle;
I donned a derby, bought high shoes
And read "Health’s Catechism,”
But I’ve a cold, a cough, the blues,
Backache and rheumatism.
Physicians'fail to give me aid,
And yet 1 do not blame them.
My maladies are overlaid
So thick no man could name them.
They’re due to psychologic laws
Past medical surmising;
They’re due—if you must know the
cause—
To street car advertising.
"Take BRONCHIOLA for that cough.”
(I didn’t know I had one.)
“Cure up that cold! Try CHOKE-IT
OFF.”
(Why. yes, I have—a bad one!)
That’s how it goes; each printed pad
Gives me some new diseases.
Dying. 1 blame the Autumn "ad,”
And not the Autumn breezes.
" through the fault of his parents
and teachers, he never learned the
secret of CONCENTRATION. He
has been drifting through life, aim
lessly passing from one thing to
another, a “Jack of all trades and
master of none.”
Has Many Irons in Fire.
He has never been his own mas
ter. although, like all of his kind,
he no doubt imagines that he is
the most independent of men. That
is the mistake made by every one
who puts too many irons in the fire
and keeps none of them hot. He
thinks that he is manifesting his
independence by dissipating his
energies. But the only really inde
pendent man is he who THOR
OUGHLY KNOWS HIS BUSI
NESS.
A certain degree of versatility is
admissible, and even desirable and
admirable, in some cases. A man of
great mental energy may do a con
siderable number of things well.
But those who have had the great
est success in life have usually
been men of one Idea, have pursued
and developed that idea by concen
trating all their powers upon it.
One must sometimes, it is true,
wait for opportunities, but when he
finds them he must stick to them.
Man Must Be a Specialist.
Those who are fortunate enough
to be able to pursue an education
leading to a profession may start
out in life with their course set in
advance, and the rudder well under
control. Others must make a num
ber of experiments before they dis
cover their true line, or find their
best course, but they must not con
tinue too long beating about from
■ one thing to another. If they do
they are likely to find themselves
In the condition of the writer of the
letter from which 1 have quoted.
Then they will be likely to
with him, that the world is “not
educated enough” to understand
them, when, in tru h, the world
is so thoroughly ed.cated in the
hard facts of life that it under
stands them only to< well, and
has nothing but its mt.v to offer
them.
THE HOME PAPER
Thomas Tapper
Writes on
Poverty
Riding in
Autos
a
This Human Puzzle of
Debt Sitting Beside
the Chauffeur Begins
to Show How the
Cost of High Living
Beats the High Cost
of Living.
By THOMAS TAPPER.
r.
A CONSIDERABLE amount of
actual poverty rides around
town in automobiles.
In any circumstance, an automo
bile is an expensive luxury.
When it is procured at the cost
of a mortgage on all tangible as
sets of the man, it begins to show
how the Cost of High Living beats
the High Cost of Living.
Why men should persist in rid
ing in the park with Debt sitting
beside the chauffeur is a puzzle to
simple people.
But they do.
They will tell you that they want
to get as much as possible out of
life.
The Story of One Man.
■Well, here is the story of a man
who rides around all day-Lbut not
in the park.
See if you can find what he gets
out of life, or what he ever can
get. I’m telling his story exactly
as he told it to me.
11.
Yes, sir, the cost of things takes
every cent a man can earn. I’m a
driver of a single-horse coal team.
I work ten hours a day six days in
the week, for twelve dollars.
Last March my Mary was taken
sick and she died in July. We
had been married nineteen years.
The oldest boy is eighteen, the next
sixteen, and my little Katie is
thirteen.
When John was bom (the oldest),
my wife said he should have a fine
schooling and be able to get a good
living. Two years ago she went to
Father 8., and he fixed it so that
the boy could go to St. Johns semi
nary and have his schooling free, if
Mary would do scrubbing and
cleaning. So she W’orked on her
hands and knees until last March.
Then she never got up again.
The nefct boy gets four dollars a
week in a grocery store, and gives
me two. Katie, the youngest, goes
to school.
I pay twelve dollars a month for
rent, and six dollars and a half a
W'eek for food and washing. We
have to buy everything cooked, be
cause the little girl isn’t old enough
to take her mother’s place yet.
I leave the house at half past six.
The little girl locks up about eight
thirty, takes the key with her, and
goes to school.
We send the washing out to a
wet-wash laundry, and have the
rooms cleaned once a week by a
woman w'ho scrubs like my Mary
used to do at St. John’s—on her
hands and knees. These two cost
me about a dollar and a quarter a
week.
If you will figure it out, sir, as
I have done a hundred times since
last July, you’ll see that I haven't
:: The Tragedy ::
By MINNA IRVING.
A | 'O lazy summer lingering
In gardens bright and warm,
The Norther in his cloudy cloak
Came riding on a storm.
He withered with his icy breath
Her blossoms sweet and fair,
And slew her with his frosty blade
That glittered in the air.
Through silver veils of drifting smoke
From stubble fires below.
The trees stand out against the sky
\\ ith autumn tints aglow,
And to and fro among the boughs
The east wind softly grieves,
For lo! the murdered summer's blood
Is red upon the leaves.
at
much left to buy clothes forth
people, pay other bills—say a d
tor and the like.
Well, I said, what do you spt
on yourself?
Just a pipe smoke, and on St
clays I go to see my mothcr
ten-cent fare on the railway—a
that’s all that’s In It for me e
cept seeing the children grow i
Some day, he went on. little K
tie will be big enough to run t
house, I suppose. But I’ll tell y
this, mister, when I go home
half-past six and see her star
ing by the table trying to iron r
a shirt, like her mother used
do, it makes me think. My wi
was a Killarney girl, and s
could work all right, but it seer
tough on a little one of thirter
to be pushing an iron over a mar
clothes. Every time I see her d<
ing it a big lump comes up In it
throat.
I’m forty-one years old. and I
be doing well to keep the job
have.
Have you any Insurance?
Yes, three hundred dol’ars In
fraternal order, and we pay te
cents a week for an Insurant
for Katie.
Who are you going to vote ft
this November?
Wilson, sir.
Why?
He will be changing the tar!
and things will be cheaper.
Are you sure of that?
No, but that’s what the boy’
are saying down at the coal yarc
I’m not so sure myself. I’ve see
a few presidents elected since
came over, and when the bo;
grew up Mary had to scrub o>
her hands and knees just the sani'’
to pay for the schooling.
You asked me what there’s tn t
for me, and I didn’t tell you wha
I’m thinking. If I can get th<
children better faxed to earn a liv
ing than I am. I’ll be content,
Can’t Afford To Be Sick.
But you see, mister, I can't af
ford to be sick for a while yet.
This Is not an ambitlonless
man. He buys one suit of clothes
—for best —every two years;
smokes his pipe, goes to see hls
mother of a Sunday and thinks
of his Mary most of the time.
He is an uneducated man, who
gets his living by his physical
strength. He reads the dally pa
per, but, as he said, I have never
read “a whole book.”
And yet there is a great Idea
dawning in his mind. An idea so
wonderful jhat it brings him a de
gree of interest he probably never
looked for. And that idea is this:
He can contribute three young
citizens—John, the second boy,
and Katie —to his adopted coun
try, giving to each of them, as far
as he can, a better chance than
he had himself.